The Manor
by KristosLilly
Summary: Joey and Aubrey are both drawn to creepy Claybourne Manor for different reasons, not realizing that they are walking into a life-threatening situation. Will they figure out the mystery behind the old place before it's too late? And if they survive their stay, will they reconcile? Joey/Aubrey. Halloween comes early this year...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This started out as an ensemble fic but it quickly became a Joey/Aubrey fic! lol Which is fine by me! Basically, it's a twist on a bunch of movies and books we've all seen and read. It will be spooky and sexy, frantic and fun. So sit back and read. Warning: There are a lot of original characters in this. I know that's considered a "no-no" to some people in fan fiction but it tells this story so here we are! lol

* * *

 **Chapter One**

 _ **October 2012**_

Rain was falling in thick sheets as Aubrey Wentworth shifted uncomfortably at the stern of the speed boat huddling for warmth in her thin black wrap. Her free hand was clenched to the railing of the ship and her stomach was close to heaving as she silently prayed to anyone who would listen to her that she would make it to land in one piece. She very much doubted she would though with visibility so poor and the way Skipper here was piloting the boat. She had tried screaming at the large man to slow down but her words were either lost over the driving wind or simply ignored.

Finally, after what seemed like hours when in reality it had only been thirty minutes, Aubrey spotted blessed dry dock. Well, just _dock_ , considering the rain was still falling and the barge was slick with water as she stepped out onto it. Skipper handed her her bags and started steering the boat away. She screamed as loud as she could after him, "Isn't there someone here to meet me?"

He held up his hands in a _"_ _how should I know?"_ gesture and then turned the boat in a circle and took off. Aubrey sighed and placed her hands on the two suitcases she had with her. She looked around as best as she could with the storm hammering down on her and wondered what to do next. The hotel was supposed to be around here somewhere but all she saw was a lighthouse in the distance, clear on the other side of the island. She wished suddenly she never would have come but well, she had needed the money and with her limited professional skills, she had to take what Cutter was offering her right now. He had sworn in his last email that he had found the mark to end all marks and that if she helped him this one last time, they would both strike it rich and live in the lap of luxury for the rest of their days.

She found some shelter under a tree and opened the little print-out she had made of his last email.

 **To: Aubabes01  
From: GiveMeMyCut**

 _Hey Christine, babe,_

 _How are you? Still slumming it in Podunk Llanview, PA huh? Well your luck is about to change because I found us the biggest mark ever! I know, I know. You said no more cons but I also know that working as a barmaid or whatever has to be getting old. How would you like to make billions this time, baby? Joey Buchanan was smalltime. This new guy is the mint! His company The Janus Group is worth more money than I even think God himself has. If you want to settle in the true lap of luxury, do me this one last favor, K? Location details are in the attachment. See ya soon, Babe!_

 _Love ya,_  
 _Cutter_

The email had been dated three days before and she had gotten the first train ticket she could find out to this godforsaken state. Cutter had attached the name and address of a hotel on Bear Island and Aubrey had been expecting him to pick her up at the docks here when she arrived but there was no sign of him.

"Damn you, Cutter," she murmured as she threw the papers into the rockling waters, watched them sink, and then pressed her suitcases closer to her. She then started walking down the docks.

When the dock abruptly ended, she came to the edge of really long tree-lined road. Naturally the road was deserted. And it was getting dark. Not to mention, her dress was soaked through and she was shivering. She dropped her suitcases on the ledge of the road and positioned herself on top of them as best as she could while keeping her thumb hooked over her shoulder and the other hand holding her wrap closed.

Afternoon's dismal light had soon faded into nighttime's even more dismal dark. Aubrey had given up every hope of ever being found especially when she discovered that her cell phone had failed to pick up a signal. She imagined she would die of pneumonia out here on the side of the road or be pecked to death by one of the owls hooting in the high treetops.

She was cursing Cutter's name and the day they met when she heard the rumbling of an engine up ahead. She thought she was dreaming at first before she noticed two headlights sluicing through the murky darkness. Her first reaction was relief and elation. Then when she spotted a man she could only think of as the crypt keeper poke his head out the window and call to her, she felt more afraid than anything.

"Darling, what are you doing sitting in the rain?" He asked. He opened the door and stuck out two long, spindly legs. His feet landed with a splash in the mud. "Where can I take you?"

"Uh …" Aubrey's hand tensed on her suitcase, prepared to drop it and run even it was Louis Vuitton.

"I suppose you'll be wanting to go to Claybourne Manor, huh? It's the only place for miles anyway."

Aubrey vaguely remembered the name of the hotel was indeed Claybourne Manor. But would she make it there alive if she went with this creepy looking figure? Would she even make it alive sitting out here all night? It was a tossup.

Finally, she nodded. "You can take me there."

"Why sure," he said. "I was passing that way anyhow. I live about two miles down the lane from the manor. It was all lit up tonight when I passed by it. I guess a party must be in the making." He gestured to the suitcase she was still perched on. "Can I get those?"

"Uh, yeah," she said and gingerly moved off of them. She watched him take them to his car and tuck them in the backseat. Then he opened the passenger door and beckoned to her with a wave of his arm.

"Well come on, dear," he said. "You don't want to catch your death sitting in this bad weather do you?"

"No," she said and slowly climbed in while he walked around the other side. She kept close to the door in case she had to throw herself from it and watched him warily. He seemed not to notice as he blathered on about the eerie weather.

Finally, he started up the engine and pulled the car forward down the road. He glanced at her as the windshield wipers kept up a steady swish-swish on the windows. "What's your name?"

"Uh, Aubrey," she said. "And yours?"

"Tuck," the man answered. "What brings you to Bear Island?"

"Business," she said and hoped he would drop it there. He did, fortunately. Instead he kept going on about the weather as she kept her hand on the door handle.

After what seemed too long a drive, old Tuck turned down another tree-lined road and announced, "We're here".

Aubrey's eyes snapped forward to take in a large white building that stood a few feet away. A large sign hanging from the porch announced it as "Claybourne Manor, Established in 1889".

She sighed with relief. She had made it alive. But there would still be a murder tonight. She was going to ring Cutter's scrawny neck the first chance she got.

Tuck stopped his Buick and offered to bring in her bags but she demurred. "It's okay, thanks. You've done plenty." She hurriedly grabbed them out of the back seat, gave him a taut smile, and raced for the staircase and towards the inviting light streaming from the interior of the hotel.

XoXoXo

Aubrey heard soft voices filtering in from another room as she walked inside the hotel and set down her bags. She approached the front desk and rang the bell impatiently. It took a good moment but finally, a kindly faced elderly woman with a tuft of white hair on her head appeared and greeted her.

"Aubrey Wentworth?" The woman said.

"Yes. How did –"

"I'm a good guesser," the woman said through a mouthful of dentures. "My name is Thelma. My husband Mr. Hurst will see you to your room. Just sign in here."

Aubrey signed the ledger and looked around the room until she spotted a portly man in a suit and suspenders approaching her. "Let me take your bags," he said and picked them up. Without another word, he started for the long spiral staircase and Aubrey followed.

He said nothing during the long walk up the stairs but didn't appear as breathless as she actually was by the time they hit the third floor. He produced a key from his pocket and slid it into the lock of door 317 and pushed it open. Aubrey followed him inside and dropped in exhaustion on the bed. She looked up at Mr. Hurst as he set her bags in the corner. "Do you know where I can find a man named Cutter Wentworth?" Aubrey asked. Cutter had not insisted on them using aliases at this point in their juncture so she hoped it was safe to mention his given name.

"Your brother?"

"Uh, no."

"Your husband …"

"Something like that," Aubrey said. "Just tell me has he checked in yet? We were supposed to meet up tonight but he never showed."

"I believe he's in the dining room with the rest of the guests. Its dinnertime you know."

Aubrey's stomach rumbled in response. "I just realized that," she said. She hadn't eaten in hours, not since before she got off the train early this morning. "I'll just go join him." She realized her dress was still clinging to her damp skin and amended, "After I change."

"Sounds fine," Mr. Hurst said. "Just go back the way we came and then swing a left at the bottom of the stairs. It's at the end of the front hallway. We're having my wife's turkey surprise tonight. My favorite. You don't want to miss it."

"No room service huh?" Aubrey rolled her eyes. "I should have known." She opened her purse and tipped the chubby man a whole two dollars and then he left.

She shut the door after him and changed into a black skirt and simple white blouse. Then she considered reapplying her makeup but figured Cutter didn't need to see her that way. They had broken up months ago and she wasn't ever going to be his bedmate again. His business partner? Yes. One last time. But never his bedmate. She still, sadly, had feelings for one man only.

XoXoXo

Aubrey slid on flats and then headed downstairs again. She found the dining room and heard voices filtering out of it. She took a deep breath, telling herself not to kill Cutter right away, at least not in public, and then walked inside.

The dining room was small and faintly lit. There was a group of about six other people assembled. Aubrey sighed when she didn't spot Cutter among them. She started to back out of the room when suddenly she spotted someone else she did know. Someone she knew intimately. Someone who's blue eyes were trained on her and laced with surprise. He was just as shocked to see her there as she was to see him and her heart started hammering right away in her chest.

 _"_ _Joey?"_ She whispered in awe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

 _"_ _Joey?"_ She said again, her voice sounding hoarse and yet plaintive to her own ears. It had been over a year since she had last seen him. It was affecting her in ways she couldn't have anticipated. Her heart was hammering in her chest, her pulse was racing, her eyes were burning with tears. God, she might come undone and all over a man she had told herself she should exorcize from her system already. She knew hanging onto a dream that one day Joey could forgive her for what she had done to him and his family was just that - a dream and a dumb one at that.

"Aubrey, what are you doing here?" He asked, as he edged off the chair he had been sitting in and slowly, almost hesitantly, moved over to her. His blue eyes studied her and an inadvertent shiver went down her spine.

"I could ask you the same thing," she returned, trying to sound conversational but failing. She really did not want to tell him she was meeting Cutter and definitely did not want to tell him that she was here to work out the details for yet another con. She didn't want him to look at her with disgust even if she deserved that and more from him.

Joey slipped his hands into the pockets of his denim jeans. "Fair enough. I am here on an assignment. A freelance photography assignment actually. Someone liked my work enough to contact me in London. I realized I couldn't turn the opportunity down."

Aubrey nodded. "So what are you supposed to be photographing? There's not much around here that I can see."

"The landscape actually and this hotel more specifically. They want me to put together a brochure."

"Who's 'they'?"

"A man named Mr. Rogers of all things," he said, quirking the smallest smile. "He owns a lot of property around these parts and also a conglomerate called The Janus Group."

"The Janus Group?" Aubrey echoed, feeling her face unconsciously contort in a grimace. Joey was working for the very man she was supposed to be conning. Great, just great.

Joey obviously didn't miss the expression on her face. "You know of it, don't you?" Why did his voice have to sound so accusatory?

Aubrey splayed her hands. "Doesn't everyone?" She said, sounding pathetic even to her own ears.

"I had actually never heard of the group until Mr. Rogers secretary called me up in London." His blue eyes watched her, seeming to see right through her. "There's something going on here, Aubrey," he said. "You haven't told me yet why you're here. In fact, you've been completely evasive."

Aubrey squared her shoulders. "I don't believe I owe you any explanations, Joey. You washed your hands of me -"

He shook his head indignantly. "I think I had a very good reason! You conned me into marriage - the whole while you were sleeping with your 'brother'."

Aubrey cringed. "I told you I was sorry for that. I feel guilty every day of my life."

"Sorry if that doesn't mean a helluva lot."

Aubrey shook her head. "When you left Llanview with Kelly, we seemed to be on better terms," she said. "You even seemed like ... Well, like maybe one day you could find it in your heart to forgive me. Why is all of this hostility coming up now?"

Joey stared at her for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, you're right. You don't need me checking up on you and you certainly don't need me jumping all over your back. I'm sorry."

"You should never have to apologize to me, after what I did," Aubrey replied. "I meant it, Joey. I do feel guilty every day of my life for hurting you like that. At least you ended up with the right person in the end." She sighed softly. She hated thinking that Kelly had always owned Joey's heart and that she had just been a place holder until things inevitably worked out for them. She didn't have a right to hurt after what she had done to Joey, but she still did. She never knew true hurt until she lost Joey. She never knew true love until Joey had held her in his arms...

Joey nodded. "Right."

"You and Kelly ... How are you doing?" Why was she such a masochist? Why did she have to ask how he and another woman were getting along? They could be happily married again for all she knew. Kelly could be pregnant with his child or even have had a kid by now. It was all so disheartening thinking of how she had blown her chance forever.

"We're fine," Joey said quickly. A little too quickly. She tried not to read anything into his hurried answer but the way he shifted his eyes away from hers...

"That's good," Aubrey finally said. "You're happy? I mean you are happy, right?"

"Yeah," Joey said, still not looking at her. "I have everything a guy could possibly want." He then turned back to look at her. "Anyway, I think my turkey surprise is waiting for me so ..."

Aubrey nodded. "Right. Yum ..." She didn't feel hungry, especially looking at what the dinner consisted of. It was gray and lumpy and just really nasty looking. "I am afraid to ask what the 'surprise' part is."

Joey nodded. "You and me both. But at least there's wine." He walked back over to his table in the corner and sat down. He picked up his glass and took a long sip before turning and looking out the window at the dark, stormy night. She watched him for a moment. He looked sad, he looked pensive, he looked ... lonely. She wanted to join him but she didn't dare press her luck. Any minute Cutter would be coming downstairs and she had to try to head him off at the pass. The last thing she wanted was for Joey to have to see the other perpetrator in the nasty trick they had played on him.

XoXoXo

Aubrey ended up sitting outside the dining room for what seemed like hours, waiting for Cutter to show up. Joey had long since gone up to his room and he had actually walked by her like he didn't really see her, like he was intentionally avoiding looking at her even. Her heart broke all over again. People would say she didn't have a heart, a soul, but something in her chest was literally aching at the thought of Joey still hating her or worse, possibly still hurting over her. He shouldn't be suffering because of her. Not at all.

She checked her little wrist watch yet again and saw that it was going on one a.m. She had asked the Hursts several times where Cutter was and they kept saying he should be along anytime. "Just eat your turkey surprise," they kept encouraging her but she couldn't force herself to eat that mess, even if she was still starving. She could only hope breakfast would be more edible.

She sighed, realizing Cutter had to been held up somewhere, doing god knew what or whom, and she needed some sleep. A headache was building right behind her eyes. She had drank the wine on an empty stomach and would surely pay for it in a bit.

She started towards the staircase and was heading up to the first flight when she spotted Joey. They nearly bumped into each other. He immediately jumped back like she had burned him, like he was afraid to even so much as touch her as if her particular brand of nastiness was contagious.

"Sorry," she murmured and noticed then that his handsome face was nearly green in color. "Joey?"

"Huh?"

"Are you alright? You look sort of ... green."

"Yeah the turkey surprise ... I don't think it agreed with me," he murmured. "I am going to see if the caretakers here have any spare aspirin I can snag."

"I have some," Aubrey said. "Its in my purse ... Which is upstairs."

"In your room."

"Right ..."

"Its okay," Joey said quickly. "I am sure the Hursts have some." He then stepped around Aubrey, giving her a wide berth as he started down the stairs.

Aubrey sighed and watched him go and then continued her hike to the third floor.

XoXoXo

Joey sighed as he glanced back over his shoulder in time to see Aubrey's long, soft blonde hair and lithe body disappearing around the corner. He felt so confused seeing her here, very discombobulated, though he wouldn't admit it to her or anyone else. Seeing her so unexpectedly though had stirred up a bunch of old emotions he would have thought were long gone.

He reached the lobby and walked over to Thelma Hurst who was busying herself at the check in counter, seeming to tidy up for the night. Joey approached her and leaned heavily against the counter feeling a wave of nausea wash over him. "Excuse me, Mrs. Hurst?" he said. "You wouldn't happen to have an aspirin back there would you?"

Mrs. Hurst looked up at him with fluid gray eyes that seemed to pierce him and made him feel uncomfortable all at the same time. "Oh, did dinner not agree with you?"

"No, it was ... I think I just have the flu or something. The weather ..." His voice trailed off. It was likely her turkey surprise that had gutted him but he wasn't rude enough to tell her so.

"Oh I see," she said. "The weather around here takes some getting to used to, no doubt." She watched him for a moment almost covertly and he cleared his throat pointedly. "Oh right. The aspirin. Forgive me. I am not as good at remembering things as I used to be."

"No problem."

She went over to a little cabinet in the corner and pulled out a bottle of Tylenol. "How many?" She asked as she opened the cap and prepared to shake out the capsules.

"Two will be just fine," Joey answered and held out his hand. Two capsules fell into his palm and he pocketed them. "Thanks." He turned around and started for the stairs.

Suddenly Mrs. Hurst called after him, "You and the young lady ... Do you two know each other? I couldn't help but notice you two conversing earlier ..."

Joey stiffened. "I thought I knew her, once," he said darkly.

Thelma seemed not to notice his discomfort as she chirped, "Oh well tell her that her friend should be around tomorrow; I just have a feeling he'll pop up somewhere soon."

"Friend?" Joey echoed in spite of himself.

"Yes. She seemed insistent on finding this fellow. What was his name - hmm, it was something odd like Snipper or -"

 _"_ _Cutter,"_ Joey said. It wasn't a question. He already knew.

"Yes, that was it!" Thelma said with a wide smile.

Joey felt a deep frown tug at the corners of his mouth. He told himself as he climbed the stairs that he shouldn't care that Cutter was hanging around Aubrey even now but he did care. And it bothered him. _A lot._


End file.
